aaronthechamp-blog
Aaron Champion
musings on film, television and modern living.
62 posts
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My lovely sister on a march of solidarity.
I arrived at Dufferingrove park with my friend Victoria (a protest virgin). I’d walked halfway across the city from Pape (where I live with my dad) so I couldn’t really bring any pots (they didn’t belong to me, and it’s a long walk). Victoria didn’t have anything either, so we arrived empty...
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Cabin In The Woods. Good, Not Great
Cabin In The Woods was kind of exactly what I feared it would be.
I don't love Joss Whedon. I have never watched much of Buffy, although I'm sure its very good. I think that Firefly has some great elements in play, but there's was always an urgency missing from the series, although I thought Serenity managed to succeed in areas that the series failed. Dollhouse is a half-baked idea turned into a half-baked show.
I walked out of Cabin In The Woods not disappointed, but with an overwhelming 'so what' feeling. I get what they are trying to do. I laughed and was surprised. But I never really cared.
To me, Cabin In The Woods suffers from the problem of being so self-aware that I feel like there was a wall between me and what was happening on screen. The constant wink from Whedon and Goddard, telling me that we were all in on the joke together, simply made me stop caring.
There's interesting ideas at play, but I think it all boils down to this for me: Cabin in the Woods is a work that calls out all the flaws of it peers, but while doing so just simply reinforces them. Its not creating a new way, it just tells everyone that it knows the road we've been taking has been overdone.
And I'm not sure that's enough.
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The Time Where I Was Surprised by a Summer Blockbuster
Last friday I ended up seeingThe Hunger Games. I walked into it with uncertainty. A lot of critics I respect have been raving about it, but I'm always cautious once April and May hit. These days, even the most acclaimed summer blockbusters can underwhelm.
But I liked it. And the more I think about it, Ireallyliked it. The topic of Young Adult fiction (and kids movies) comes up a lot via work for me and I always express my disappointment for the state of the artform. There seems to be such a low expectation for things for young people these days.As long as it makes kids laughs, that's good enough. When that is your benchmark, you're not aiming for something that's really going to connect with people.*
The Good: The selection scene - No score. Just tension created by cutting and performance. Not the obvious choice for a film like this but executed amazingly. Jennifer Lawrence in general, although I really hope that franchise films don't take over her career.
The Bad: The first half is slow. The pomp and circumstance of the training scenes feel like they lag and fail to set up the rest of the characters. Cato and the other 'villains' are painfully one dimensional and complete morons.
But overall, from the discussions I have had with people who have read the book, most of my criticisms are problems with things from the book too. Can you blame the filmmakers for not making it better? Maybe not. But I don't think it would have taken much from Gary Ross to make Cato slightly less cartoony.
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* There are titles that exceed this low benchmark. Harry Potter is definitely one of them. But where's the The Secret Of Nimh these days?
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You will notice I often reblog from Keith Calder. He has one of my favourite blogs regarding film and I had the pleasure of meeting him at last years SXSW. Really nice guy with a great outlook on producing. (not to mention that The Wackness is one of my favourite films)
Gavin Polone has written a great editorial on the insane casting process for Pilot Season (the three month period where television show pilots are greenlit, cast, shot, and killed).
On a more personal level, Pilot Season makes it almost impossible for an independent producer to cast a film during the months of February and March. Agents are unwilling to let their clients do an independent film if it means they might miss an audition for a pilot. They’ll turn away the certain independent film job in favor of the highly-unlikely pilot job.
I would love it if television moved to a year-round development and premiere cycle, rather than the ridiculousness of pilot season and fall series launch.
(via The Syllabi)
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Downton Abbey and 'the hook' of a project.
One of the most frustrating things I run into in development and production is a very simple question - 'what's the hook?'
You can have great characters, great tension, a killer creative team, but without a hook that distributors, broadcasters or sales agents can SELL, no one is interested in your project.
After finally watching the first episode of Downton Abbey, I'm reminded of how enviable the television and film industry in the UK is. Downton Abbey is a period soap about the inhabitants of a manor home in the British countryside. I can't imagine the pitch for this show if it happened in North America - it would create such confusion on the part of the execs. How can they sell stuffy British period drama? Who's the face for the poster?
Downton Abbey has strong characters, excellent production value and a fully developed world. Whats the hook? Its good. What other hook could we possibly want?
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I was addicted. Not to success. I was addicted to trying my hardest. That’s the reward in itself. It’s what life’s about. The struggle. It’s the only way you can be proud. You can’t be proud of luck.
Ricky Gervais: On Fame (via keithcalder)
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Adobo chicken tacos with pineapple salsa (Taken with instagram)
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Today I built me some record shelves. (Taken with instagram)
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Two Thousand and Eleven
For the last few New Years I have been saying 'this is going to be the year.' And while every year has built on the last, 2011 was the year where everything seemed to click. There's a lot of big question marks about 2012 and beyond, but I've never been so excited to continue moving onward and upward.
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A great look on piracy by Keith Calder.
Every time you purchase something you are making a statement. You are creating physical evidence that something has value. If something has a high value, then it becomes in high demand. So if you make a concerted effort to support lesser-known, interesting and esoteric things (Art?) then you are helping make those lesser-known things more popular. I’m sure we can all agree that there are incredible movies made every year that never get the attention they deserve - That’s not the movies’ fault. That is our collective fault for not being proactive enough to GO OUT OF OUR WAY to support them.
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